


Akuze

by Seagoatink



Series: Survival Isn't Pretty [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Akuze, F/F, Heavy - Freeform, Injury Recovery, Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-08-30 23:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8552899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seagoatink/pseuds/Seagoatink
Summary: A young Commander David Anderson visits one Sergeant Cheska Shepard at Prazzi Station following the thresher maw attack on Akuze. He stays with her for a month and learns more about her than he ever imagined knowing. His soldier has been through Hell and back. She witnessed the murder of her family and colony on Mindoir. Now she lay in bed before him, a broken mess, flirting with a young salarian doctor.





	1. Dumplings

Early in the day the captain received a call. She called her second in command, Anderson to her quarters. He was quick to join her, bringing his dinner from the mess with him. Potato dumpling soup, he made himself from scratch. Enough to feed members of his usual away team. “Captain Mallory, sorry it took so long. Didn’t want to under cook the dumplings,” he admitted.

“Away with the formalities, David. Sit down,” said the captain, motioning to the chairs around the table near her desk. She had a thick accent but so did almost everyone who was born on earth.

“Of course, Katherine,” the man replied, taking the seat nearest to her desk. The chair was not lavish or comfortable, but it was not a standard folding chair either. 

She sat down in the chair next to him, causing him to raise a brow. Katherine usually took position across from him, eager to keep her distance. It wasn’t that she was a cold person, but she was overly fond of her personal space and privacy. She even had a separate room for meetings with crew members so they could speak openly with her. “The Shepard girl,” she paused, hesitating or finding the right words, he wasn’t sure. “You know of her assignment to Akuze?”

“No, but I assume you’re going to tell me something happened,” Anderson said. He had an honest, no nonsense attitude. It was showing. “Katherine, cut to the chase, something happened to the poor kid, or is she AHWAL?”

There was a hovering silence as she waited for him to fork a dumpling. He chewed and swallowed, convincing his captain that perhaps he was not as close to this girl as records stated. His appetite was still present, but if she were a child to him, his child, his stomach surely would give way for concern. Maybe they wouldn’t have to change course for the nearest base to drop him off. “Of fifty marines assigned to Akuze, she is the only one to make it out alive.” 

Anderson set down his bowl and squeezed his eyes shut. He leaned into his knees with his elbows and rested his face in his hands. “Thank God the girl’s alright, but-”

“Actually, she is having reconstructive surgery on her thigh, and suffered a broken arm. The krogan call them Thresher Maws. Apparently Akuze had a breeding ground full of them.”

“I’ve heard of thresher maws, a lot of turians talked about them when I trained on Palaven. You’re saying she got hit by projectile spit, and started to lose her leg to the acid…” He was staring up at his captain again, as though she had all the information from Cheska’s mission report. 

She stared back at him, empty. There were no answers she could give, even if he asked her. Captain Mallory had a question for him though. “Do we need to reroute to the nearest base so you can see her.”

There was not a moment’s hesitation. He fixed his posture and sat straight. She expected him to say no. “Ma’am I need to see Shepard as soon as humanly possible.”

“ETA 0300 hours. You will transfer to the Ophelia, David.”

“Thank you, Captain,” he said hastily leaving her quarters.

Katherine glanced down at the table. He forgot his dumpling soup. _So, he really does care for the kid._ It was impossible to deny.


	2. Jelly Beans

His time on the Ophelia was shorter than he expected given she was a cargo ship. Prazzi Station was larger than he expected too. It had been expanded on since his last visit. The halls were familiar, just decorated differently. The honorable personality wall had been moved, to where he had no clue. But it was still the same station. He knew where to find the psych ward too.

The receptionist nodded to him when he entered the waiting area. “Commander,” he said as he rose from his seat and motioned to one of the several doors. “Follow me.” David was not going to admit it, but he did not expect to be pulled into a session. The receptionist opened a door for him, it seemed to be a viewing area. “Sergeant Shepard filled out a form, requested we give you full access to her records for this,” he informed the man before leaving.

The viewing room had basic kitchen necessities. Desk chairs were set up in front of the window to view the main room, where he presumed the patient or person being observed would stay. Curiously, Anderson gazed into the window.

The room was not an interrogation style room with a table with a chair on one side and one or two on the other. Instead it was well lit with painted pastel walls. There was a wooden table, and Anderson was sure Shepard could tell him what kind of wood it was. There were four matching chairs with pillow cushions string tied on. In the corner was a bookcase and next to it a game shelf, he assumed they were for decoration or waiting patients.

Shepard was escorted in from a door he hadn’t noticed. Her curly hair was short, but fluffy around her head like a halo of sorts. She wore military sweats, he knew she obtained those years ago after Mindoir. There was a brace on her left thigh, and her arm was in a sling. The young woman removed her shoes and sat down at the table. “Thank you,” Cheska said politely to her escort in a small, sheepish voice.

“Commander Anderson is on the other side, Sergeant,” the woman said, pointing to the viewing window.

He knew she couldn’t see him, but David waved anyway.

She waved in return and flashed a weak, but toothy smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t show up last Christmas, I-”

A woman in a dress with slacks underneath entered the room. Her hair was pulled back into a braid that trailed down half of her back. She wore thick framed glasses and donned a clipboard with a notebook and pen attached to it. “Shepard, I heard Commander Anderson is here to visit you.”

“Yes!” She responded enthusiastically. “I haven’t gotten to talk to him yet, Durani, but I… I didn’t show up for last Christmas.”

She was babbling relentlessly, something Anderson had only seen her do once or twice and both times were prompted by phenomenal food. “I wasn’t expecting you to show up for Christmas, Cheska.” He knew she couldn’t hear him, but he felt she needed the reply. “I probably wouldn’t have been home anyway.”

“Durani, I asked for permission to see Wilson’s mom and tell her personally,” Cheska said before licking her lips. She pulled a soda out of her pocket and set it down on the table. A bag of jelly beans quickly joined the drink. Then a container of hot lunch food followed.

Doctor Durani smiled, seeing the woman get comfortable. “You just came from the cafeteria and didn’t bring me anything?” She teased.

Shepard looked up, her hand still in her pocket. “I remember you were eating watermelon chunks the other day and I brought some for you, and a fork.” She held out the container and the fork from a bag.

David never understood the girl’s magic tricks or how she pulled them off. Cheska always claimed they were just always there. That was the power of baggy clothing. “Baggy clothing isn’t how you survived Mindoir, kid,” he muttered behind the glass wall. The doctor said a thank you and indulged with Shepard in their meal of sorts. David glanced back at the fridge and cupboards. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” he said to himself.

“You want to tell Sergeant Wilson’s mother yourself because you feel responsible for his death?” Doctor Durani continued before taking a bite of the watermelon.

Shepard shook her head as she played with the lump of chicken in her tupperware container. “No, not really. I heard the rumbles in the ground, he heard it too. I had just updated his shields too. So in all reality, I may have helped him live longer.”

David pulled together some hamburger meat and buns and nuked them in the microwave. There were cups in the cupboard and he helped himself to some water till his food finished cooking.

“Then it’s because of his sister, you feel obligated to the family.”

Shepard squeezed her eyes shut and looked down at her chicken. “Yeah… I was with Willy for three years, and then she offed herself on Christmas. Wilson and I, we were on our way to pick her up anyway,” she answered softly. “Mum kinda deserves a know-how.”

 _Death really follows you around, Cheska._ David’s food finished in the microwave and he sat back down in front of the viewing window.

“Wilson was one of three, I was one too, that tried to wake whoever we could. But then one of those things came up from the ground. It flipped a vehicle onto the third of us. Me, Wilson, Third, that one. I don’t know what his name was, just a newbie we were watching out for. Called him Paul, cus he said it on accident. I think that was his middle name or his brother’s name.”

“In the middle of the night?” The doctor asked.

“Crack of dawn,” Cheska replied, her non-slinged arm graced the air above her as she arched it around, simulating a sun rising from the horizon. “It wasn’t a pretty sight and he wasn’t the only one who was pinned under it. I know I heard someone begging for help and screaming in pain. But it woke everyone else up who was left. Maybe a little more than forty at that time.”

“It’s in the report, Shepard,” pointed Doctor Durani. “I’m here to assess if you are still fit for duty, and if not I am here to work you through to a point where you can either see a specialist or leave the military behind.”

 _Harsh words, Durani, but you know Cheska can handle this._ She handled Mindoir better than most of the damn soldiers who were with him responding to the distress beacons.

Shepard took a bite of her food, then washed it down with a swig of her soda. “Durani, I knew them for a month, three at best,” she went for another chunk of her chicken. “I knew those kids on Mindoir, a fifth of that planet was blood related. Knew ‘em since before I had memory.” She chewed the remainder of her mouthful then swallowed. Then returned to playing with her chicken with her fork.

“Yes, losing family is difficult, especially for the teen you were at the time, but that doesn’t mean losing your team was not also hard on you,” Durani emphasized.

“I’m kind of brain-numb, and” -she motioned wide over her stomach- “gut void. But” -her hand held a steady C-shape and she dragged it down her sternum- “Warm” -she opened her hand and motioned over the rest of her chest. “Hollow.” Cheska held her hand over her neck, “I’m being held.”

Durani was making a diagram in her notebook, or doodling. “And that’s why you want to tell Wilson’s mother?” She asked for clarification.

“When military shows up at your door and stands awkwardly as you cry into your hands and hold yourself, you feel estranged.” David wondered if Cheska learned her matter of fact tone from him, or if she had it before the raid. “I know his death wasn’t my fault. I watched a thresher maw spit acid into his back. I didn’t kill him, I helped him survive. But I’ll be damned if his mom falls to the ground with no one to hold her.”

“I know the answer, but I’m required to ask: Did you fail your team? You survived while the rest were lost. How come they didn’t make it too?”

“I lived because I wasn’t aiming to live. I aim to survive. If I lose a leg while I’m at it then that’s a sacrifice. I have always been on the defensive, always been running. Half of them came for an investigation, others thought it was just an easy run. I didn’t live Akuze, I survived it. Not everyone knows surviving means you make it out with air in your lungs and your heart pumping blood through your veins. Doesn’t always mean you get to keep limbs and not everyone’s ready to live life with prosthetics and pain.”

“And you would do that? Live with prosthesis, pain, a life far different from what you have now?” Durani asked, pushing her empty container away from her. She returned the fork to Shepard.

Shepard placed both the fork and container back in the bag she brought them in. “Survival isn’t pretty or luxurious. It’s not living. Hell, most of the time it isn’t even making it, but it’s existing to spite whatever gets in my way.

Mindoir was starting to make sense. The massive hoard of food stashed in the tiny sergeant’s pockets, not so much. What would anyone do when given a situation they were sure to die in? If it were Shepard, she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She turned the tide. She made it out alive even if it left her a shell of a human being.

Then Doctor Durani said, “Once you’re healed, you’ve been invited to join the N7 program. Are you going to take it?”

“Of course. I need to learn a thing or two about keeping my team alive, even if I wasn’t in command this time,” Cheska replied calmly. “Maybe I will command in the future.”

 _That’s my girl._ Anderson’s lips formed a smile, despite the crappy food he was eating.

The session continued on, reinforcing Shepard’s stability and thoughts on the matter. They casually worked out a few kinks, though not everything would be solved in one session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still waiting for a reply about getting out of here. My anxiety is acting up and I'm getting nightmares. It's hard to sleep. I finished the remainder of this fic a week or so ago, so my life wont get in the way too much of pushing this out.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy :)


	3. Pork Roast

Anderson met her back in the hospital’s recovery wing. “You’re on-call doctor said you were free to leave for home, if you had a place to stay,” said David as he popped his head through the door.

Cheska was decent, wearing her sweats and a loose scrub shirt, probably provided by one of the staff members. “I hope I wasn’t wrong in thinking I could stay with you for a bit, sir,” she said as she struggled to zip her backpack up with her free hand.

“Not at all, kid, but you know the rules. No formalities, like sir,” he chuckled as he knelt down beside her to zip up the bag. “I’ll carry it. We don’t want you going back here for more corrective surgery,” he added with a smile.

The younger soldier used the bed to lever herself back onto her feet. “Thank you, David, and sorry I didn’t message you as often as normal. I got the promotion, then had my annual PT testing a little after…”

After slinging the backpack over his shoulder David put his other arm around her shoulders. “Your superiors have kept me in the loop, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” he assured her gently. There was enough in his protege's life for her to think about and worry about. “I rented military housing for a month, my friend Pulowski recommended a pre-furnished unit so, we don’t have to worry about anything other than food.”

“Then we should head to the market,” Shepard said, limping ahead of him excitedly. “I learned how to make a pork roast that’s really good!”

Her limp worsened throughout their market trip. David pretended not to notice, but he did. She was wincing, her breathing was heavy, walking strained her focus more than he imagined it could. Her excitement was unmistakable though. Every now and again Cheska checked her omni-tool to see what else she needed for recipes she had learned. She was insistent on carrying their groceries herself, pointing out that David was already carrying her backpack for her. “It’s only fair,” she said as they sat down to enjoy a drink near one of the vendor stands.

David ordered a coffee and Cheska ordered tea.

She did not get up to retrieve her order.

The commander sat back down with his makeshift family, returning with a cake and two forks. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she smiled a broad, toothy smile. “To share, of course,” the man said, returning her smile with his own.

“Of course,” she grinned, eagerly accepting her tea from him. Sitting was awkward, with her leg in a brace, it had to stay straight. It was better than standing and walking around endlessly though, that strained her body too much. 

“I heard you were learning Salarian,” David said as he took a bite of his cake. The young woman in front of him nodded. “And there was a Salarian woman visiting you the last few days too, right?” He asked.

Cheska tried to hide her smile by biting her lower lip, but nodded. “Yeah, Doctor Kharris Maev, she’s cute. Came here to study humans a bit, I guess,” the woman replied. She took a sip of her tea through a colorful straw and grinned. 

“I guess,” David repeated her words with a knowing grin. “Very believable, Cheska.” He laughed, and accepted her offer to try her tea, though he did not use the straw. “You always had good taste,” he muttered. “But this Salarian, came to study humans? You mean you, don’t you?”

“She didn’t hop on over to our star system just for me, but she did come to Prazzi Station to see me,” Cheska explained quickly. “And yes, she came here specifically for me.” She was tempted to add that she had good taste, but decided against it. After all, doing so was tasteless. 

The market was filled with muted noise as the two enjoyed their light snack in the middle of their day cycle. Fortunately, they were both on a similar sleep cycle. It was not as common as one would think, considering there were no days and no nights in space.

There was a reason they were quiet. David was too polite to point out or even ask about Cheska’s relationship with Kharris. He knew. It was a fling. Salarian women were few in numbers and very important. Still, everyone meant something to Shepard. If she knew them by name then she had an opinion on them. If she had met them, then she had feelings about them.

Her smile told him she was very interested in this salarian. Her hesitation told him it was a fling, at least to Kharris. Every relationship was important, regardless of the lack in long term intent. There was no point in feeling pity for the girl. She was happy and that was what mattered most.

They finished their cake. David stood and slung the backpack over his shoulder. Cheska struggled to get out of her chair. The commander offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. “I, uh, I need you to carry the groceries,” Cheska admitted meekly.

“Alright,” he replied. He was not going to ask her why or ask if she was feeling OK. David knew the answer and he was not about to rub her injuries in her face. She would hardly admit that she was hurt, even in therapy, he saw no point in trying to make her confirm her pain to him now. “We’re staying in a two bedroom in Curtis District.”

There was an audible sigh of relief from the younger of the two. Curtis District was close by, between the market and the hospital. “How’s serving under Captain Mallory treating you?” Shepard asked as they headed towards their housing district.

He chuckled and shook his head. “So you heard she’s a hardass too?”

Cheska nodded, continuing after him with her limp more pronounced than before. “I didn’t really want to take Ensign Preston’s word on it though,” she admitted.

“She’s a bit cold till you get the feel of her. Katherine is a professional woman. It shows in her track record quite well too,” Anderson said, smiling proudly to be a part of her crew. Serving under Captain Mallory felt like a privilege. “How was serving under Commander Laures?” He asked in return.

“Captain Vern wasn’t thrilled when he found out Laures didn’t make it,” Cheska replied carefully. She was doing her best to be respectful of her higher ups, but it was clear she was not fond of Captain Vern. “Not like I was in great condition when his away team grabbed me at the LZ, but I did my best and… Commander Laures was an amazing woman, not a bad bone in her body.”

Commander Laures face was still front and center in the sergeant's mind. She had almost made it. All she had to do was hold on by another three hours. That was it. Just three hours. Of course, she could not make it, not with the acid eating at her chest. The stench was foul, and the pain… The pain was unbearable. Even after Cheska administered a generous amount of medi-gel to help ease Laures’ suffering, she knew it only dulled the pain.

“We’re here,” David said, pulling Cheska back into the here and now. He took out the house keys and followed the girl into the house. “I’ll take care of the groceries. Why don’t you go sit down,” he suggested nonchalantly.

“I can help,” Cheska said.

Anderson set the grocery bags down on the counter and put her backpack down on the couch in the living room. “You can help by sitting down so I don’t have to worry about you, Cheska. You can’t even stand up straight as it is with your leg like that,” David argued.

“Sir-”

“Don’t _sir_ me. Sit down and watch the news or something,” he continued, not backing down to Cheska’s bickering.

“I _am_ the news, David,” Cheska explained. A whole colony was lost. Her whole squad was lost. Her leg was almost lost and her arm was busted to Hell. It was not a good day to watch the news. Most networks had already sent her private messages demanding to know why she came out alive with no one else. “I barely made it out alive. Thank fuck for Captain Vern’s crew.”

David held his tongue as the girl plopped down on the sofa. One leg sprawled out thanks to the brace and the other hung off the side of the couch. With a heavy sigh he turned away in favor of putting the groceries away.

His career had been far from easy. Responding to the distress calls of Mindoir was not even the start of it, let alone half of it. By no means had he ever been the sole survivor of a situation, this was new to him. The following month would prove to be another learning environment if he paid close enough attention to what was going on. He was a war hero, but he’d be damned if he did not take the opportunity to learn from Cheska’s experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Officially have a ride from Indiana back to Ohio! I just have to get a ride from Iowa to Indiana so I can get all the way back. Basically Indiana needs to get back to me when he has a time.
> 
> Also if you hadn't noticed, I've named every chapter after food mentioned in the chapter :p I'm a foodie, okay!


	4. Leftover Quiche

This was the first time he had seen with his own eyes what her leg looked like under the brace. At any time, David could have asked to see it. He did not want to see it though. It looked worse than he imagined it in his mind. “I’m not a physician, but that’s… infected,” he said.

Cheska prodded at the large, gaping wound, completely desensitized to the gore of it all. “It was a Hell of a lot worse on Akuze,” she stated coolly. The woman pulled out her omni-tool to take a few pictures.

“Are you sending those to your doctor?” David asked, still stricken with sickness in his stomach from the sight of her very infected leg. The woman shook her head. He recognized a few words. “You’re sending the pictures to Maev?” He questioned in disbelief. “We need to get you back to the hospital, Cheska.”

The younger of the two was far less concerned. “Just gimme a minute,” she grumbled, strapping the brace back around her leg. Cheska got up from her chair and hobbled over to the kitchen where she grabbed leftover quiche from the fridge.

“Cheska, really?” David chastised.

“What? Hospital food is shit!” Cheska growled back, her eyebrows furrowed together.

Hospital gowns were shit. Hospital food was shit. Waiting for test results was loathsome, but also shit. If she had her way, Cheska would have waited two days for her next appointment. Mother Bear David Anderson was not going to let that happen, no sirree. He was in the hallway talking to her doctor.

To make matters worse, he had also confiscated her leftovers.

Cheska sighed heavily, her arm was still in a sling, which made folding her arms difficult. Her omni-tool lit up, Kharris messaged her back. It looked like her doctor was also a recipient, but it was hard to tell with the infection and pain getting to her head.

Her doctor knocked on the wall as he entered the room. “Well, we wanted to avoid this, but it looks like we’ll end up having to grow you a new leg. You’re not healing well, not that I’m surprised with thresher maw acid,” he said.

It was Doctor Litz.

Cheska knew him well enough to know he shelled out a bunch of irrelevant information with tiny little details that actually mattered. Not that she could concentrate all that well with all the medi-gel stuffed into her system. Seriously, she was beginning to believe they had more of the stuff than they knew what to do with and decided it was best to jam it all into her tiny body.

“Look if you’re gonna remove my leg, can you remove my breasts too. Let’s be honest, I have no use for them and they’re in the way,” she replied straight faced. Of course, Cheska was also completely serious. Had she not been high off of her infection fever and high on medi-gel, she probably would not have bothered bringing it up at all.

The doctor nodded as Anderson entered the room. He had a coffee in his hand, the bastard.

The hospital took her clothes and gave her a gown that tied in the back. David took her leftovers and bought himself a coffee. 

“I can make that happen, Sergeant,” Doctor Litz said with a wide smile on his face.

Oh, today was a good day for him. He was always happy to help. “Did you get a girlfriend or something, cus you’re not normally this smiley,” Shepard noted aloud.

“These are my favorite kind of surgeries,” he admitted.

“Happy to be injured then, I guess,” Cheska said as she leaned back into the bed. The covering crinkled under her weight. Another reason she hated hospitals was added to her long list of _Why I Hate Hospitals_.

Just as she was beginning to feel that everything was fucking her over, a salarian entered the room. Her skin was an uncommon hue, cerulean blue. “Ah, Dr. Maev, it’s good to see you again! Have you come for more samples?” Doctor Litz wondered enthusiastically.

The salarian stood at the foot of the hospital bed, eyeing over Cheska’s body. “I suppose you’re removing the leg? If that’s the case, I’d like permission to keep it to study,” Kharris said, sticking to the primary concern, rather than addressing Cheska on other matters.

“I don’t need it,” Cheska said with a shrug, knowing it was going to be removed anyway. The hospital labs would grow her a new one with military funds. By the time it was ready for her, she knew Kharris would be long gone. She hoped in the back of her head that the salarian would vid call from time to time, but she expected nothing.

Kharris moved her hand to her lips as she thought. “Have you remembered anything on the thresher maw attack?”

This time, the sergeant shook her head. “Nothing more than I’ve added to my reports. I believe you’re already up to date on all of the additions, Kharris.”

“Have you scheduled the surgery yet?” Kharris asked Doctor Litz.

The man shook his head. “No, not yet. I have to talk to my receptionist. It should be within the next 24 hours though.” He glanced at his patient.

“Keep her updated with scheduling,” said Cheska, holding no reservations for her personal privacy.

“Will do,” Litz replied, seeing himself out so he could schedule the surgery.

Kharris turned her attention to David. “This is Commander David Anderson, he responded to Mindoir. David, this is Doctor Kharris Maev. She’s here researching thresher maws,” Cheska said.

The salarian helped herself and sat on the bed beside Cheska. “I know I said I missed you, but you didn’t have to get an infection this severe,” she joked.

“Hey, I’m helping,” Cheska laughed. The way she looked at Kharris made David feel like he was invading on a very personal moment. “Not that I really want to lose a leg, but I’m sure this is far less painful than waiting out the healing process.” The human woman was still dizzy from all the medi-gel in her system but at least Kharris gave her something to focus on.

David dared to take a step closer. “What kind of doctor are you then?” He asked.

The general understanding was that Kharris was studying thresher maws. But if she needed tissue samples, or in this case Cheska’s entire infected leg that would be removed soon, then he wondered if she was studying thresher maws’ effect on humans.

“I’m a researcher, here on a grant for anything related to thresher maws. Salarians aren’t much welcomed in krogan space, genophage of course,” Kharris answered curtly. “It just so happened that Akuze…” She paused and glanced down at Cheska who was on the brink of sleep, but barely hanging on.

The man nodded. “And you met her during recovery?”

“No, I’ve known her for five years now,” Kharris replied. Her hand rested over Cheska’s and her fingers rubbed the back of her hand gently. “This year has been particularly cruel to her.”

“So I’ve heard,” Anderson said grimly. “But it’s also been a year of opportunities. Cheska has a knack for always moving forward.”

Kharris turned her attention back to David. “The worse situation the more she thrives,” she agreed, now standing. Surely, she was taller than Cheska by a few inches, even though her horns curled back. David wondered if that was normal for salarians, to have their horns bend backwards. He had not met enough of the species to know.

“How old are you then? Cheska is 23, she would have met you when she was 18 and joining the military,” David asked, returning to the point of his original question.

Kharris shook her head. “She was 17, visiting Sur’Kesh, shadowing our engineers on a research grant provided by the academy she attended. I was 15 joining university.”

She spoke the same as any other salarian, David realized, still processing all of the information Kharris fed him at the speed of bullets. It wracked his brain. “And you ended up together, how?” Had Cheska been awake, he knew he would have gotten an earful. He could picture her curling her lips upward and her eyebrows pressing downward, squishing her features into her nose.

“I can’t commit to a relationship. Cheska is afraid of commitment,” the salarian replied simply.

Nodding with understanding, David pretended to know about Cheska’s commitment issue. It made sense though. Her family was dead. Her last long term relationship ended in death. Part of him wanted to say the relationship between the two women was unfulfilled, but whether they felt they had a full relationship or not was not up to him.

Anderson let out a heavy sigh. He was still young by human standards, but he had never been as battered and injured as the soldier lying in bed in front of him. “Was it just the broken arm and leg?” He asked. Captain Mallory did not have access to the full mission report. If Cheska were in charge of the flow of information, he knew she would keep the severity of her injuries from him.

The doctor shook her head. She stole a glance back at Cheska’s sleeping form before returning her attention to David. “No, her scapula was shattered, clavicle shattered, humerus broken. There was a herniated disc in the thoracic and lumbar spine. A few broken and bruised ribs. Her femur was removed and replaced with a metal one until a new one could be grown. As you know the leg is now too infected and they will grow a new one outright,” Kharris explained flatly.

“Damn,” David muttered under his breath. He placed a hand over his face for a moment as he thought through the extensive list of injuries. “How did the shattering occur?”

The bones that had shattered were on the opposite side of her leg injuries. He assumed one happened before the other and it was far more likely that Cheska’s arm was harmed first.

“Clipped by a tank a maw flipped,” Kharris replied.

Her omni-tool went off and she quickly replied to a message or two. It was hard for David to tell considering he was not at all fluent in salarian. He figured Cheska would likely have better luck reading into what Kharris may have said.

Then the salarian pulled up a few projections to display on the nearby screens which presumably displayed x-rays on the daily. “You arrived perhaps a week into her recovery,” Kharris stated, pulling up images of Cheska’s progress for the first week.

The pictures on the screen were beyond grotesque. Twisted limbs, if they could even be called that, wore bruised and broken skin. Acid marks splashed across the sergeant’s body. Her face had suffered minor burns from an initial blast. Hands blistered and busted from firing incinerating and cryo blasts alike.

Without a doubt in his mind David knew the first week was chock full of surgeries, physical therapy, and post-op reviews. At least a dozen doctors would have been in and out, doing their best to repair the soldier in one way or another. He was surprised they made so much progress before he even saw her for the first time. Then again, the Ophelia was a slow ship, even for a cargo ship. 

“I went to Akuze after that. Thresher maws have a way of making it all disappear,” Kharris said suddenly, breaking the silence as she too examined the images on the screens.

What was he supposed to say to that? David did not know. So he kept his mouth shut. Still examining the pictures on the screen was gut wrenching. There was not much he could think to say about Cheska’s injuries either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this now, because I'm heading to my grandparents tomorrow. They don't have internet. My ride is teetering on the edge of "I can make it" and "I can't" thanks to his work. But I hope to whatever's out there he can make it. I want to get out of this mess.
> 
> I don't know when I will be able to post the final chapter of this fic, but I do hope you've been enjoying it so far!


	5. Coffee

For the first time in over a month, Cheska’s mind was free from the effects of agonizing pain and medi-gel highs. Her girlfriend stood beside her. “I leave tonight for Sur’Kesh,” Kharris said, her hand hovered close about the human’s. “I’ll message you when I get back,” she added.

Cheska leaned into Kharris’ shoulder. “I’ll miss you, dear,” she murmured. Her surgeries and physical therapy appointments had worn her out. Regardless of energy, will kept her trucking forward. Tomorrow would be different, tomorrow would be better. Kharris would not be there, but her absence was a good thing for the both of them.

“I’ll send lots of pictures,” the salarian responded, now squeezing Cheska’s hand.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t show you-”

Kharris tilted her head, leaning over Cheska’s now. “I am happy with the time we spent together,” she said, clearly interrupting the sergeant’s apology. “Besides, you helped me plenty with my research.”

“Thanks for talking to Dad for me,” the older woman said.

Commander Anderson had returned to active duty earlier in the week, but Doctor Maev had stayed to see Cheska through some of her physical therapy. She had been sending in updates to the commander and cleaned up the house a bit while the sergeant stayed at the hospital under the care of the nursing staff. 

Around them, everything seemed to be muted and distant. It was as though they were the only two people on Prazzi Station. “I’ll miss you too, Chessy,” Kharris finally admitted as she pulled the human into a hug. 

Cheska hugged her tightly in return. “And here I was beginning to think you hadn’t grown attached to me,” she chuckled, burying her face into the other woman’s shoulder. “But you’ve got my leg as a keepsake, right?” She teased. She pulled away from their embrace to grin up at Kharris. “It’s like a lucky rabbit’s foot, but it’s my whole leg!”

“Oh stop that!” Kharris laughed, playfully shoving the sergeant’s arm. “If it proves to be useful, I’ll mount it on my wall in my office.”

“You wouldn’t!” Cheska laughed loudly in disbelief. Her eyes were wide and her smile took over her face. “Oh that would be hysterical! I want a picture of that!”

Kharris took the human’s face in her hands and stared into her eyes. “I would. I will. You seem keen to the idea,” she replied, showing she was willing to do almost anything so long as it made her mate happy. When Cheska’s expression dulled to a smirk, the salarian planted her lips on Cheska’s. “I want you to do something for me,” she admitted. Her hands still held Cheska’s face in place.

“Anything.”

The phrase almost escaped her mind for a moment as the doctor was caught in her girlfriend’s loving gaze. It was a human phrase one of the scientists she was working with had said several times. “Keep on truckin.” Kharris offered a half-smile, hoping she used the term correctly. Eventually, she would have to read into human idioms thoroughly.

“Of course,” Cheska replied warmly. “If I can, I’ll update you during my N7 training.”

“And if not?” Kharris wondered with concern.

Cheska glanced down at her hands which were clasped neatly in Kharris’. She turned her face upward and offered a hint of a smile. “I’ll be thinking about you. If nothing else, I’ll keep on truckin,” she said. “Do you have time for a coffee before you head off?”

“More than enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will finally be legit returning to Ohio on Friday, I am so thankful and happy and thrilled. Then I will start applying for disability benefits and actually get my health taken care of after so many years of having no one willing to take me to a doctor. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! :D

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping to make my way out of state soon. My ride is going to find out when he can make a drive to my grandparents house.


End file.
